Her face is red as a strawberry. "Ummm, I said go get ‘em! Like the general cheering saying." She tosses a half-hearted fist up in the air to sell it.
"Sure you did." But I’m too focused on getting to Rhys to get into this with her now.
"You owe me!" She yells out and I just wave her off.
Our security guys wave me through and I jog past Lydia as she and E.T. argue about something he thinks would be funny for social media. All I see is her head shaking back and forth.
"Good night Pay Day!" Emmett yells.
"See you tomorrow." I call and I round the corner to find a giant black SUV idling near the ramp to the street. I pull open the back door and between panting breaths I get out. "Hey!"
"Hey. Don’t you do athletic stuff for a living?" Rhys asks as he slides over.
"Yeah, but I’m not a TitaniumPerson." I huff as I plop in the seat.
Rhys laughs. "Fair enough. Umm, good game." He waves to the driver.
"Thanks Charming." I pull his hand into mine and press a kiss to his palm. My soap does a decent job of getting the stink of hockey gloves off my hands but Rhys’s smell like the beardbalm he uses and I let my nose linger for a beat before leaning back. "Did I impress you with my skating skills?"
"Absolutely." He laughs. "And after roller skating I wasn’t sure."
"Shut up." I nudge him with my shoulder.
"Really Duncan, it was great."
"Just great?"
He rolls his eyes. "What do you want me to say? That it was like jazz? Like poetry in motion? The way you and your teammates danced around each other and worked together and supported each other?"
"Yeah. That’s exactly what I want you to say." I hold my smile for just a moment. "You also could have said it was hot to watch me play."
"That too." He rolls his eyes.
"Good." Satisfied, I lean my head against the rest and turn to him. "I’ve been thinking."
"Oh yeah, about what?" He tilts his body towards mine, keeping our hands intertwined.
"Halloween."
He laughs. "What?"
"Yeah, Felix usually hosts something for us and we don’t have a game on actual halloween night so we get to participate in trick or treating and everything!"
"I’m not sure that’s a good idea." Rhys says as he looks down at our hands.
"Why?"
The sadness I see in his eyes fills my chest. "You know why."
"Yeah, but can’t we go as friends? Or like, you’re just some guy I met or something and I invited you. Actually, wouldn’t it be funny if I dressed up as you and then brought you to the party!" That’s hilarious.
His thumb begins to trace circles on the back of my hand. "I can’t afford another public breakup." Rhys whispers into the little space between us.
"That’s fine, we’re not dating so there’s nothing to break up."
Logical.
But the words twist in my gut.
